Seventeen dead in 72 hours in the Cape

The killing of a further three people in Cape Town has brought the death toll in the city to 17 in the past 72 hours.

CAPE TOWN, May 18 (ANA) – The death of a further three people in Cape Town has brought the death toll in the city to 17 in the past 72 hours.

Provincial police spokesperson Colonel André Traut said in a statement on Tuesday that two men in their thirties were gunned down at about 7.15pm in Annemeit Street in Bloekombos by unknown suspects on Monday.

Traut said circumstances surrounding the incident are still being investigated and police are urging anyone with information to please come forward.

The Community Policing Forum (CPF) of Steenberg has also urged residents to come forward after a 31-year-old woman was struck by a bullet and killed while she was washing the dishes in her wendy house in St Barbara Street in Montague Village, Lavender Hill, at about 11.50pm on Monday.

On Sunday, Lieutenant-Colonel Koliswa Vani, who was stationed at the Delft police station, was gunned down in Taurmaline Street in the Bardale informal settlement in Mfuleni while her vehicle was at a car wash just before 3pm. Three others, including a child, were injured in the shooting.

The three suspects are alleged to have approached Vani and asked what the cost of washing a vehicle was.

The suspects fled the scene in a Toyota Avanza. No arrests have been made.

On Saturday, 18 people were shot in various locations in Site B in Khayelitsha.

Nine people were declared dead on the scene, four others died in hospital due to injuries sustained and five were seriously wounded.

The Khayelitsha massacre saw the Western Cape police’s integrated task team setting up a track-and-trace operation to find the suspects.

During the early hours of Monday morning, officers arrested 11 suspects linked to the Khayelitsha killings at a hotel in Sea Point.

MEC for Community Safety Albert Fritz welcomed their arrest.

The arrest followed a 72-hour plan activated by acting provincial commissioner Major-General Thembisile Patekile, said Fritz.

“We need to commend the SAPS for their work in this regard. The arrest shows that we can beat crime. The arrest shows that we will beat crime,” Fritz said.

The 11 suspects are expected to appear in court on Wednesday.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher